Two riggers were killed while taking down a tower crane on a UK construction site last month. A third man, the crane operator, was seriously injured. The crane collapsed onto the riggers and the roof of the new building, apparently after its cables tangled with those of a second tower crane on site.
The accident happened in the morning of Friday 12 February at Durrington High School in Worthing, East Sussex. The crane was being used to build a new £11m school, adjacent to the existing high school, for children with special educational needs. It came down approximately 150m from occupied school buildings and approximately 50m from a busy road.
The men who died were Gary Miles, 37, and Steven Boatman, 45, both from Reading in Berkshire.
Edward Seagar, managing director of Bennett’s, told Cranes Today: ‘It is a tragedy. They were longstanding, well liked and well regarded employees. Our thoughts are with their families.’ He added: ‘We are cooperating fully with the HSE.’
Contractor Wilmott Dixon was unable to give details of the accident, or its causes, before investigations have been completed, but it is co-operating with the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), which has four inspectors on the case.
Wilmott Dixon‚s spokesman was able to confirm only that the crane was being dismantled at the time of the accident.
The HSE said it was too early to say how long it might take to establish definite causes of the accident.
However, a 16 year old schoolboy who witnessed the event was reported as saying that the hoist ropes of the two cranes appeared to become tangled moments before one of them crashed down and the other‚s jib buckled.
The second crane remained standing but its jib was broken about half way along. The contractors, in consultation with HSE officials, determined that it could no longer be dismantled safely because of slew ring damage. Instead it was demolished by a controlled explosion on the Sunday evening, two days later.
Both cranes were owned and operated by rental company WD Bennett’s Plant & Services Ltd of Sharpness, Gloucestershire. The HSE confirmed that both Gary Miles and Steven Boatman were employees of Bennett‚s.
* Four workers were killed and two others injured when the jib of a tower crane fell to the ground during dismantling at a construction site of South China University of Science & Engineering in Guangzhou, China on 28 January, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
* A 38-year-old crane operator from Dutch rental company De Kil was killed on 12 February in an accident that occurred while he was taking down a crawler crane. It appears that while removing one of the crawler tracks, the load somehow came free from its rigging as it was being lifted overhead and fell directly onto the operator’s cab.
